The number of COVID-19 patients in Wirral's hospitals has fallen again, but many remain on ventilators.

In the week up to February 2, 211 people were in the borough's hospitals with coronavirus, down from 265 seven days earlier.

It is the second week in a row that the number has fallen, after it rocketed over Christmas and most of January, but the figure of 211 is still far above the first wave peak of 131 recorded last April.

Going forward from December 22, it is clear to see how severe the increase in Wirral's COVID hospital admissions was.

On December 22 there were 62 COVID patients, by December 29 this had risen to 78, then 137 on January 5, 252 on January 12 and 272 on January 19.

The biggest single figure for admissions was registered on January 22, when 279 people were being treated for the virus at Wirral's hospitals.

While admission numbers are heading in the right direction, there are still many virus patients on ventilators.

In December, there were often less than five Covid patients on ventilators in Wirral, but this figure climbed to 18 by January 21.

Since then it has remained fairly stable, peaking at 19 on January 30.

The most recent figure, recorded on February 2, is still 18, meaning it has not fallen in line with the overall fall in COVID hospital admissions over the last fortnight.

However, there are positive signs when it comes to the infection rate.

In the week up to February 1, Wirral had 831 cases at a rate of 256 per 100,000, that is down on the rate of 418 per 100,000 with 1,353 cases registered in the previous week.

Another good sign is that the positivity rate, the percentage of tests which come back as positive, has also fallen considerably for the first time this year.

On January 8, Wirral's positivity rate peaked at 20.3%. As case numbers fell markedly, this measure only decreased to 18.5% in the following week and 16.4% in the week up to January 22.

But in the most recent weekly breakdown, which goes up to January 29, the rate was down to 10.7%, further evidence that the virus is less prevalent in Wirral than it was at the start of January.

Yet the high level of hospital admissions and the number of those on ventilators shows that the borough has far more to do before the pandemic can be said to be under control.